


Oak and Mahogany

by hideki16seiyuu



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Death, Established Relationship, F/M, M/M, Marriage, Old Age, Post-Canon, Wakes & Funerals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-19
Updated: 2017-08-19
Packaged: 2018-12-17 06:16:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11845665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hideki16seiyuu/pseuds/hideki16seiyuu
Summary: “Don’t try to pull one over on me, handsome. He’s going gray already.”“He’s in his fifties now, Taako.”“How much longer is left?”“Longer than you’d think.”---Human lives can never match that of elves in length.





	Oak and Mahogany

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for the finale.
> 
> This sequence in the podcast made me cry big baby tears so I'm here to take it out on all of you.

Magnus Bursides lived to the ripe old age of eighty-two.

His sight was all but gone, and his once tall stature was cut short by his hunched stance at his advanced age. His hands had always been a mess but were an absolute disaster of scars and calluses and twisted, arthritic knuckles these days.

He was old, far older than any of them would have expected him to be when the time came. Everyone suspected, but Taako knew for a fact. It had been a hushed conversation decades before at Lucretia’s funeral, when Taako had suddenly noticed the grey creeping into the carpenter’s sideburns.

His stomach had heaved forward like it was trying to leap out his throat and the moment he was alone with Kravitz outside the Bureau headquarters, he’d asked him.

“Tell me something; did you know?”

Kravitz’s eyes were gold to match the sky as the sun was setting over the skyline of Neverwinter. His expression was unreadable as he weighed how to answer the elf.

“... Yes.”

“Did you just…  _ Know  _ or did you check?”

Kravitz fiddled with his cloak. “... I checked all of your friends after the world ended, Taako. I want to be ready when the time comes for me to take away the people you care about.”

That sentiment made him sick and Kravitz, probably sensing this, pulled him into a tight embrace. Taako clung fast, eyes squeezing shut into the velvet on the reaper’s shoulder.

“... At least there’s Barry and Lup.” Kravitz gently offered. “And dwarves and gnomes live quite a while. Carey is a young dragonborn - ”

“What about Magnus?”

Kravitz paused and let out a soft breath, barely a sigh. Taako pulled back and cupped the cool cheek.

“Don’t try to pull one over on me, handsome. He’s going gray already.”

“He’s in his fifties now, Taako.”

“How much longer is left?”

“Longer than you’d think.”

Taako’s brows shot up and Kravitz kissed his forehead.

“He’s going to be an old man, Taako. Older than you could ever dream.”

A lump rose in his throat and he swallowed around it.

It wasn’t a sad lump.

It was a lump of complicated feelings that weren’t the same nauseating dread he’d felt since the glimpse of those fading sideburns.

Kravitz gave him a squeeze as the sun dipped behind the buildings and Neverwinter’s windows began to glow with candlelight.

It was dimmer, but it was warm, and something he remembered vividly as he watched Magnus over the next thirty years.

When he caught him carving a walking stick for himself, he handed over the bulk of instructional duties to Ren and all but moved into Magnus’ house. He played it off as a huge inconvenience, of course, sighing and rolling his eyes as he made sure meals were eaten and morning potions were swallowed and mending (which had been done clumsily before but was now impossible with Magnus’ stiff hands) was done. Merle was hanging around a lot more as well, what with his kids up and running their own adventuring business, the cleric had more free time to stay close in case Magnus got sick or his arthritis flared up or his cataracts got worse.

Between the three of them, they all knew what was happening, but played it off as the good ol’ days. Magnus was delighted to have them close by (even if he hated needing help weeding his own vegetable patch) to joke around and throw sticks for the dogs with.

When he turned eighty, Taako had to ask Kravitz how close they were getting, and was socked in the stomach with the reality that they were only two years and change off.

Two years was  _ nothing  _ for an elf.

“Can’t talk the boss out of this one, eh?” He asked, voice trembling enough that a line appeared between the reaper’s brows.

“This is… How it’s supposed to go down.” Kravitz responded, almost apologetically. “If nothing else, take comfort in the fact that these are the happiest years of his life.”

Taako said nothing, only turning to watch Magnus trudge down the path with his walking stick in one hand, a leash in the other, an obedient deerhound matching his slow pace for their nightly walk.

Taako started counting the days.

He didn’t know the exact date, but four months after his eighty-second birthday, Magnus got sick.

It wasn’t any kind of plague or epidemic, it was just… His body slowing down.

There was nothing Merle could do, no healing spell to cast, just the two of them easing his pain and waiting.

It took six weeks for the illness to take.

It was different from the other times they’d seen Magnus die.

There was no blaze of glory, no battle, no apocalypse to face, just an old friend in his bed by the window, a dog at his feet, and a feeling of peace.

He was ready.

Angus was the first to arrive.

He’d grown into an amazing man who had a family in the city with his first grandchild on the way. His dark hair was still dark and his glasses were still big and dorky, and he gave Taako a hug longer than it needed to be.

Carey and Killian were close behind. Carey looked scared out of her wits but Taako shook his head. They’d made it in time.

Barry and Lup showed up with hugs that he readily accepted. His sister had a failsafe against anything happening like this with Barry, and her tight embrace told him that she knew that and that she was here for him.

Davenport came with Avi in tow, who was walking with a cane. He looked sad but understanding, and Taako supposed that when humans are old they start to accept things like death.

It wasn’t that night but the night after that Merle walked out of Magnus’ room and nodded, looking far too serious.

It was time.

Carey was on the other side of the bed, holding his gnarled hand and assuring him that it was okay to let go.

Taako was holding the other.

No one else in the room seemed to see Kravitz come out of the rift into the astral plane. He chose his human appearance today and extended a hand to Magnus. Taako couldn’t hear what they were saying, but Magnus smiled.

Then he turned to Taako, still smiling, and Taako stopped breathing.

So did Magnus.

The hand around his went slack, and Julia’s ring slipped into Taako’s palm.

People in the room were turning away and wiping tears in their eyes. Someone - Barry and Lup, led by Angus - was shuffling out, heads down.

It wasn’t until Taako was outside in the garden that Kravitz came back. He sat on the bench next to the elf in silence, as the two watched a familiar sunset over a not-so-familiar day.

“... They’re together, now.” Kravitz finally said, seeing the ring in Taako’s hand.

Taako nodded, looking down at it.

It was finely sanded oak, stained a beautiful gold. It didn’t match the mahogany one on Taako’s hand, but the love and craftsmanship was there for both of them.

“... I suppose I couldn’t hold on to him forever.” Taako finally sighed.

A breeze off the coast ruffled his funeral clothes and Kravitz’s cloak.

“... This is the best way he coulda gone out, I think.” He said, closing his hand back over Julia’s ring. “I’m glad he turned out to be a man who could be happy with this.” He nods to the garden, where the peas are taking over everything, and the fence that needs patching, and the dog sniffing around the grass. “It only took him two hundred years to figure that out, but… He deserved better than some asshole cutting him up or a dragon eating him or some shit.”

“He deserved you.” Kravitz took his hand.

“That’s stretching it.” Taako smirked, vision blurring with tears. “I’m  _ Taako  _ from  _ TV _ .”

The sun dipped behind the trees at last and the dog trotted inside where the rest of the wake was taking place. Merle waddled out, glass of cheerwine in hand and surveyed the yard.

“We were thinkin’ of burying him in the garden.” He says, taking a swig. “I’d put him with Julia, but we have no damn idea where she’s at. Whadaya think, big guy?” He looks to Taako who rubs his eyes dry.

“Do it.”

Merle nods and retreats back inside to give him some privacy.

“I was just thinking…” He starts hoarsely, supplying the answer to Kravitz’s unasked question. “... This is where he made his life. This is where he had the dogs and the shop and - ”

“... And you?”

Taako nods and covers his face and the reaper pulls him close.

“We can see him again.” Comes the whispered comfort into his hair. “Living is… Many things, my love, but it’s certainly not permanent. And you have a vacation pass to the afterlife whenever you want.”

“I know.”

“Too soon?”

“Yeah.” He swiped the tears off his cheeks and takes a breath. “I’ll give him some time with Julia first… And um. I’ve gotta take care of stuff here.”

Kravitz nods, and they’re interrupted by Lup calling to them, “Hey nerds! Come eat this baller funeral cake with us!”

They share a small smile and stand, Kravitz taking his hand as they make the short trek back inside where their friends were starting to laugh rather than cry talking about the late Magnus Burnsides and the time he got drunk and wrestled an ox.

Taako paused in the doorway and looked back behind them at the yard where he can still see Magnus pulling up carrots and squash, Magnus play-fighting a litter of puppies, and Magnus grinning up at him as he comes through the gate.

He couldn't help but smile, the ache in his chest still raw, but steadily growing warm once more, and finally turned into the house to get a slice of cake.

He shut the door behind him.

**Author's Note:**

> If this made you cry and you need to scream, hmu on tumblr @hideki16seiyuu and if you like my writing, I have a webcomic!  
> It's on tumblr: butterfly-blues.tumblr.com  
> And tapastic: https://tapas.io/series/Butterfly-Blues


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